Refresh Rate/Framrate question

[vexion]

I just had an odd thought.

The framerate that a computer can produce in a given game is a measure of the number of frames it can render per second, and the refresh rate of a monitor is the measure of the number of times per second a monitor changes its picture, right?

Then if most LCD monitors max out at 60Hz refresh rates, and others at 75Hz, is it a waste if your computer can push more than 75FPS in a game? Is there going to be no actual difference whatsoever?

Sorry if I'm missing something blatantly obvious. I'm not very knowledgeable about displays and the like.

 

[Tosan]

I just had an odd thought.

The framerate that a computer can produce in a given game is a measure of the number of frames it can render per second, and the refresh rate of a monitor is the measure of the number of times per second a monitor changes its picture, right?

Then if most LCD monitors max out at 60Hz refresh rates, and others at 75Hz, is it a waste if your computer can push more than 75FPS in a game? Is there going to be no actual difference whatsoever?

In short, yes. The refresh rate of your monitor will limit the number of frames that can be displayed per second. There are a few smaller LCDs that can actually properly display 75Hz, but not too many. Anything above 75 is quite rare.

Getting more frames per second than your monitor can refresh at might have a minor effect on tearing when vertical sync is disabled (either more or less of it), but it will not make motion appear any smoother.

 

[Version_3]

I lock my frame rates to vsync, which is 60. I also enabled something in the nvidia driver panel (not at that pc ATM) which helps to reduce tearing when vsync is enabled.

 

[TheSmJ]

Enabling vsync is supposed to eliminate tearing altogether. If it's not there is something wrong with your monitor's driver settings.

 

[Nenu]

He might be thinking of the number of buffers you can use with VSync.
This helps prevent the framerate locking at 15, 30fps when less than 60fps is being displayed.
It does however add an extra frame delay (lag) for each buffer used.
You can use the default triple buffer setting or try using 2 for lower lag.

 

[Version_3]

He might be thinking of the number of buffers you can use with VSync.
This helps prevent the framerate locking at 15, 30 or 60fps.
It does however add an extra frame delay (lag) for each buffer used.
You can use the default triple buffer setting or try using 2 for lower lag.

Thats the setting, thanks.

 

[Biges]

V-Sync + Tripple buffering should reduce taring.
But it also reduces overal FPS and increases the input-lag. For that reason I think most people with LCD prefer to turn V-Sync off.